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Bermuda will be off a European Union blacklist of non-cooperative tax jurisdictions by May, the Premier predicted yesterday.

David Burt said: “The next meeting is in May and in the short interim period we will continue to make sure member states are clear that Bermuda is compliant and that our legislation is fully in force and is being implemented.

It is important to recognise that we do not anticipate any sanctions against Bermuda as a jurisdiction and there will be no impact on any rights of travel or otherwise that Bermudians currently enjoy. This listing is for tax purposes only.”

He was speaking after Bermuda was added to the list yesterday by the EU’s Economic and Financial Affairs Council in Brussels.

Mr Burt admitted Bermuda’s inclusion was a “setback”.

However, he said he was confident that the island would “soon be removed from this list”.

The revised list was approved yesterday by EU member states, but the British representative told the meeting that jurisdictions should be removed “as soon as possible after they have demonstrated they are compliant”.

The meeting was told: “The UK notes that Bermuda has legislated to address the issue identified. In light of this, we expect Bermuda, and other compliant jurisdictions, to be removed from the list at the next available opportunity.”

• For copies of ministerial statements made at the House of Assembly from David Burt and finance minister Curtis Dickinson today, click on the PDFs under “Related Media”